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Saturday, 16 July 2011

The speaker after yesterday's breakfast meeting at Daresbury yesterday was Dr. Eddie Kirby, Charity and Support Manager of the Manufacturing Institute in Manchester. Manchester was been chosen as the first city in the UK to host a Fab Lab, a community inventors' workshop where new products can be built by both businesses and individuals.

"What are FabLabs when they're at home?" I hear you say. According to FabLab's website

"A Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory) is a fully kitted fabrication workshop which gives everyone in the community from small children through to entrepreneurs and businesses, the capability to turn their ideas and concepts into reality.

The aim is to make almost anything."

The concept was devised by Prof Neil Gershenfeld of a MIT and here is a clip from him on his: visit to Manchester:

There are FabLabs around the world and the plan is to open 15 more in Great Britain and Ireland. I shall be writing rather more about them in my Inventors Club blog presently.

Returning to Daresbury, did you know that Mrs Rebekah Brooks, the former CEO of News International lived there?Neither did I. Thank you Wikipedia.

Monday, 11 July 2011

Before its merger with the Chancery Division pursuant to s.41 of the Courts Act 1971 the Palatinate Court of Lancaster had jurisdiction to hear patents and designs cases. It was thus theoretically possible to bring a patents claim in Manchester though I have been able to find reports of just two cases where that actually happened. However, the Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster retained jurisdiction to hear most other types of intellectual property claim. I have been instructed regularly in copyright, trade mark and passing off cases in the North of England since 1985.

S.61 and paragraph 1 (i) of Schedule 1 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 assign patents, trade marks, registered designs, copyright and design right work to the Chancery Division. S.62 (1) of that Act confirmed the jurisdiction of the Patents Court to hear patents and designs cases.

S.287 (1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 conferred jurisdiction on the Lord Chancellor to designate any county court as a "patents county court" and to confer jurisdiction on it to hear patents and designs cases and ancillary proceedings. Only two county courts have ever been designated as patents county courts and there has never been more than one patents county courts at any time. The only patents county court at present is the Central London County Court.

Cases that must be brought in London either in the Patents Court or the Patents County Court are those relating to:

patents

registered designs

registered Community designs

semiconductor topographies, and

plant varieties.

All other intellectual property claims that may be brought either in London (the Royal Courts of Justice or the Patents County Court) or in Manchester, Liverpool or Preston.

Patents and Patents County Court Judges sitting outside London

The rule that all patents, registered designs, registered Community designs, semiconductor topography and plant variety claims must be brought in London is mitigated greatly by paragraph 5 of the Patents Court Guide and paragraph 1.5 of the Patents County Court Guide which state that the Patents Court judges will sit outside London for the purposes of saving time and costs if the parties so desire.

Choice of Venue

On 1 Oct 2010 new rules were adopted that make it very much cheaper and easier for small and medium enterprises ("SME") and individuals to bring any type of intellectual property claim in the Patents County Court. I discussed those rule changes in detail in my article "New Patents County Court Rules" on 31 Oct 2010. Since most intellectual property claims in North West England could be brought before the Patents County Court, practitioners in North West England should think long and hard as to whether it really is in their clients' best interests to issue proceedings out of Manchester, Liverpool or Preston rather than the Patents County Court. The only circumstances where I would still recommend issuing out of the Manchester, Liverpool or Preston District Registries are where the claim is likely to exceed £500,000 or where I need really urgent interim and probably "without notice" injunctive relief. I can think of no advantage of issuing intellectual property proceedings out of the Manchester, Liverpool or Preston county courts.

Proceeding outside London

If you do choose to issue out of Manchester, Liverpool or Preston District Registries or County Courts you should consult Chapter 12 of the Chancery Guide: "Chancery Business Outside London" and the contact details in paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 to that Guide. In most other respects, Chancery practice in the North West follows London. The presiding judge, still known as the County Palatine of Lancaster, is Mr. Justice David Richards and his deputies are Judge Hodge and Judge Pelling. The judges of the Mercantile and Technology and Construction Courts sitting in the North will also hear chancery cases. I have appeared before all those judges at one time or another and can say that they are all good. However, unlike Judge Birss QC of the Patents County Court, they practised in different areas of law while at the Bar. One other important difference is that interim applications can only be brought one day a week which is generally a Friday in Manchester.

Further Information

For further information on IP litigation in North West England, call us on 0161 850 0080 or use our contact form.

The title of his talk is "The Essential Steps of Product Development". According to the Group's website, it will cover:

- general development process and reducing risk- sustainable innovation- materials and the importance of getting them right- turning a good idea into a great idea- what is quality, knowing when you can and can't cut corners- the harsh reality of what it takes to get the big boys to bite.